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Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Sun Also Sets-- For Those of You Not Interested in 5 am

If a knitter drops a needle in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Dear Diary,

I’m
telling you, the fun never ends. I know it’s probably not nice for me to brag,
but I’m not bragging, I’m just telling the truth. Every morning here I wake up
and my work is spelled out for me: drink coffee, relax, eat breakfast, knit,
take a walk, knit, eat snacks, knit, eat lunch, knit, do yoga, knit, eat
snacks, knit, having knitting class knit, eat dinner, knit. Now that’s a job
description I can get behind.

Even the oatmeal here is beautiful.

Today I went for the oatmeal with brown sugar
and raisins. I skipped the smoothie because even though it looked really good,
let’s face it, my bladder is fast moving toward decade number six and I was
already worried the coffee consumption was going to make the hike a little…
well interesting is the nice way to
put it.

Classy high rise Fairy Loft.

We set out for Cathedral Woods around 9:30 and
in no time we were out of the village and into the forest where we saw about a
half-bazillion teeny little fairy houses all over the place. I know the ones
along the water are listed for more in the MLS, but I spotted a high-rise on a
tree trunk that really grabbed me.

We kept on until we came to the water, which at
first seemed splattered in yellow paint, as if the seagulls had been assigned
to paint the curbs on Monhegan but then, realizing there are no curbs, they
just dropped it wherever. In fact, that yellow stuff is lichen as it turns out,
just another big splashy hello from Mother Nature this week.

Love on the rocks. Ain't no surprise.

I spotted two rare green and a rare blue puff-ins.

Things were a little challenging once I got back
to the Monhegan House because I was faced with having to wait to have my hot
chocolate at the Mall since, poor me, I had to have a massage. I was greatly
consoled to discover that, just for me, Mary Alice used the subtle orange
sheets on her table. As I was mid-rubdown, MA answered an urgent knock at the
door. Apparently Stephen Kress, aka The Puffin Man, was on his way back from
birding and eager for a photo op.

MA, the consummate professional that she is,
insisted on finishing my massage over my protests that she go wait for The
Puffin Man on the lawn. She’d hear nothing of it and to silence me, or to at
least get me to stop blathering, she rubbed my shoulders until I was partaking
in my old Snore-and-Drool routine. All’s well that end’s well—MA and SK got
their photo together.

Dreaming of a Time Machine.

Then it was off to the Lighthouse Museum with
Annabella where we took in an array of amazing artifacts and I continued to
grow the fantasy in which I put myself in a time machine and go back to
Monhegan circa 1845 and take on the role of maiden schoolteacher at the one-room schoolhouse. Naturally Holden also enters the time machine and travels
back with me and he even starts to shyly hang around the schoolhouse admiring
me from a distance until the hand of Sue reaches through the machine and pulls
him back to his reality of forging peace between the knitters and birders and
reading Fifty Shades of Gray aloud to his wifey.

Subtle Orange Sheets.

Yes she knows the Puffin Man!

As 2:30 drew nigh, the panic of dilemma seized me. On the one hand I was loathe to leave the
museum, on the other hand I was excited to get to class—this pretty much sums
up the Monhegan Island experience for me: I want to keep doing Thing A but then
Thing B calls to me. Thing B was really fun today as we did some show and tell,
recited our Personal Knitting Histories, shared tips and techniques and learned
a piece of heretofore unknown wisdom about why to take up or stick with
knitting. This philosophy came from Ava who cheerfully noted: Knitting is such a big world. There are so
many ways to screw up!

Amen, Sister Ava.

Take a number.

Making top Manhattan restaurants seem as exclusive as McDonald's

Suppertime rolled around and I strolled down to
the Fish House along with, apparently, everyone else on the island. You have to
love a restaurant that is open one hour per day, one or two days per week. Talk
about building up demand. And they also take their time to the point we were
theorizing that they don’t start catching your lobster or harvesting your
mussels until you’ve put your order in. That’s okay—TOTALLY worth the wait. We
got in some laughs, we got to see a pair of Island Pugs, and I got to indulge
in my favorite pastime, worrying! Today I was worrying that I wouldn’t get my
food in time to shepherd the flock down for a sunset as I’d promised.

OMG.

Linda's show and tell. Holy Mackerel this woman is a fast knitter.

Well, diary, I’d explain what happened next, but
then I’d have to bore you. Suffice it to say that I managed to get the group to
the sinking sun and I managed to wolf down a crab roll and I also was allowed
to take my bowl with me from the Fish House so that I could wander through the
village sharing my mussels with all comers.

I made this happen with my iSunset App.

So as you can see—another busy day of relaxing! Tomorrow
is our last full day here and as ever I am kinda bummed it’s going to be done
too soon but I am also gleefully optimistic. Because coming here has inspired
in me a desire to keep coming here and, so far, so good, this is year five. I
think I might just end up like the ladies I met here at breakfast this morning,
artists who’ve been coming to Monhegan every year for more than half a century.
Such is the dedication this glorious place inspires.

Love,

Me

P.S. Here are some more pictures!

Fairy House.

Making waves.

Still Life with Yarn Balls. Aka: Here, Kitty, Kitty...

Please note that the clouds are, in fact, ribbed. I did this with my iSkyKnit App.

This is the docent at the Lighthouse Museum. I kid you not-- she's from Austin, Texas. Here she demonstrates the UT Longhorns Hook 'em Horns hand move while contemplating a burnt orange Longhorn scarf she's knitting.

Yep.

Annabella and I learned this word at the museum.

When I go back in my Time Machine to Ye Olde Monhegan, I can take with me darning techniques Alison taught me and fix this blankie!

I crocheted this after just one session with Susan!

Words cannot describe.

At show and tell Joan tries to convince us there's a mistake. Um, Joan? If I could make mistakes that beautiful, I'd knit every hour of every day.

Alison taught us how to fix holes.

Holden proved to us that he has been reading Fifty Shades of Gray.

I don't know... I think we might not have enough chocolate..

Showing stunning restraint, I only ate, like, 14 of these.

Dolly's lovely poncho.

That damn Fish House line.

More Fish House clients, relaxing out back.

Worth the wait. Totally worth it. I'd mussel my way through that line again anytime.